Basic Trope: All fictional video games are portrayed as 80s era games.
- Straight: Bob is playing on a PlayStation 4. The graphics are 8-bit, the sound effects are beepy, and Bob uses a pre-DualShock PlayStation 1 controller plugged to the machine.
- Exaggerated: April is playing Pong on a PlayStation 5 which isn't plugged in to the television or the wall socket. The upside-down controller is from a Nintendo 64, the SFX sound suspiciously like Super Mario Bros., and the music sounds like a Sega Genesis game.
- Downplayed: April and Bob are playing on a PlayStation 3 which, while plausible, raises the question of why they haven't upgraded yet.
- Justified:
- Bob and April are a young couple of Retrogamers, but they rely on PSN (or Virtual Console) because they can't afford the real deal.
- Bob and April cracked their console to play retro games.
- Bob and April modded an old-school console to work on a modern TV. Both of them grew up with the console, and they recently dug it out of Bob's parents' basement/attic.
- Bob and April are new into video games and want to know their entire history, so they start by the oldest consoles.
- They mostly play deliberately Retraux games.
- The story is set at a time when those sorts of games were new and popular.
- Bob was conned into buying a Poly-Station.
- The game is a Halo 4 Video Game De Make for the NES they made themselves for fun.
- Inverted:
- A younger Bob is shown playing a PS5 game with April on an original Game Boy in the 60's.
- A video game taking place in modern times portrays movies as still being in the silent era.
- Subverted:
- We hear Pac-Man style beeps as Bob and April play on an Xbox Series. The camera then pans around to reveal a modern game on the screen. April compliments Bob on his ring tone as he answers his mobile. They're actually playing Halo 4.
- It's revealed that Bob was playing a Retraux bonus stage, and the regular gameplay is actually rather modern.
- Double Subverted:
- Lacking a second player while Bob's on the phone, April quits Halo 4 and begins playing Pac-Man.
- Bob is playing a game with an intentional 8-bit feel.
- Parodied:
- Bob excitedly gloats how many points he's got, and that he's reached level 80. April points out the console isn't plugged in, and that he hasn't played videogames in a while, has he?
- Bob buys two expensive videocards to run Pac-Man at higher graphics.
- Zig Zagged: Bob is seen playing on an 80's era game. Then he gets bored and he and April play a modern FPS... which turns out to be Doom. Then Bob's younger brother Rob comes in and asks if he can play on his new game when they're done with their old ones. April and Bob decide to let him have his fun. The game is then reveal to be completely sprite based. It's Disgaea 3.
- Averted:
- The April and Bob show is sponsored by Microsoft. Their favorite game is Halo Infinite multiplayer, on Bob's Microsoft Xbox Series X, over his Microsoft Xbox Live Gold Subscription, which both of them play on Xbox Elite Series controllers. Both Bob and April like to brag online about their "leetness".
- Alternatively, Bob is playing a game that, while still fictional, looks and sounds like what a PS4 game would be like.
- Enforced: Stock CGI footage and sounds are used to avoid lawsuits.
- Lampshaded: "Why don't we have any games from less than 15 years ago?"
- Invoked:
- Bob and April prefer the classics.
- Bob and April often play deliberately Retraux games.
- Exploited: April uses Bob's shallow knowledge of video games to help her case in an argument.
- Defied: April and Bob are hardcore gamers. They pour all their disposable income into their consoles, PCs, games and seating.
- Discussed:
- "I wish I could afford something more modern, but this is all I've got..."
- "Ain't that game a lil' old?" "It's not old, it's retro. Old, but cool."
- Conversed:
- "Hey, have you heard about that new sitcom about gamers?" "Hm, they'll probably just hammer a joypad and make Atari sounds."
- "Those old games are still way more fun than any of that scholck they put out nowadays. No butchering the content for DLC's, no microtransactions, and they don't restructure the damn thing every week." "Okay fair enough,but really? Pitfall?"
- Deconstructed: Bob only plays old Atari games because he's stuck in his childhood and can't acknowledge that anything has changed.
- Reconstructed:
- April buys him a newer console to try and get him to man up. It's a SNES.
- Bob likes playing the older game because it's still good to this day.
- Plotted A Good Waste: Turns out April and Bob are both part of an experiment by the U.S. government to see if regular civilians can successfully replicate conditions from the 80s, and the duo are fittingly playing games from that time period.
- Played For Laughs: Everyone but Bob has modern games and consoles.
- Played For Drama: Bob ends up going to prison after trying to steal a newer console and cracking it to play downloaded games.
Back to Pac Man Fever... Argh! Those Nintendoes are driving me crazy!
